"Obviously, it was the last thing I was kind of expecting when I went in this morning," Harvey said. "I haven't had shooting pains down my hand or in my elbow at all. It's been mostly forearm tightness.

"This past start (Saturday), it was a little more usual."

Harvey, 24, is 9-5 with a 2.27 ERA and an NL-leading 191 strikeouts in 26 starts this season. He started the All-Star Game and was considered a top Cy Young candidate.

The Mets had planned to make him a centerpiece of their efforts to contend in 2014. Monday's news puts that plan in jeopardy, Alderson acknowledged.

"This is what many successful teams have to go through from time to time," he said. "But we have to respond, and we will."